IC execs whisper of recoveryNews & Analysis 11/29/2002 Post a commentFor two years chip makers have been at the mercy of their customers, who have not been shy about playing the overcapacity card to their advantage by pressing for lower prices and shorter lead times. Now, emboldened by rising orders and shipments, some integrated-device manufacturers may be ready to start pushing back.

Could strontium titanate be high-k gate dielectric?News & Analysis 11/29/2002 Post a commentLONDON -- Strontium titanate, a relatively well-known perovskite material, could be the dark horse to come through and provide a replacement high-k gate dielectric material at sub-25-nanometer process technology nodes, according to a late paper at this year's International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM) to be held December 8 to 11 in San Francisco.

Intel broadens temperature spec for XScale 80200News & Analysis 11/29/2002 Post a commentSANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Intel Corp. has published information on a version of its XScale 80200 processor that has been assessed as able to operate over the 'industrial temperature range' that runs from minus 40 to plus 85 degrees Celsius.

Japan's chipmakers mull filling Trecenti fab, says reportNews & Analysis 11/29/2002 Post a commentTOKYO --- For the sake of cost-efficiency Japanese chipmakers are considering outsourcing some of their manufacturing to the Trecenti Technologies Inc. subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. that operates Japan's only 300-mm wafer fab, industry and government officials were reported as saying on Friday (November 29, 2002) by Reuters.

UK spectrum agency lambasted over 3.5GHz BFWA fiascoNews & Analysis 11/29/2002 Post a commentDelegates at this week's Wireless Broadband Forum, held here, rounded on speakers from the UK's Radiocommunications Agency (RA) over the handling of the consultation process and licensing arrangements for use of the 3.5GHz spectrum for broadband fixed wireless access.

Growth in chip sales slows, Europe hot, U.S. flatNews & Analysis 11/29/2002 Post a commentGlobal semiconductor sales reached $12.5 billion in October 2002, a 1.8% sequential increase from the $12.3 billion in revenue achieved in September 2002 and a 20% increase from the $10.4 billion total recorded in October 2001. But the growth rate has slowed.

3GLAB warns on MMS shortcomingsNews & Analysis 11/29/2002 Post a commentMultimedia software developer 3GLAB has warned that consumers are so confused by the menu systems of MMS-enabled phones that they are unwilling to send photos via MMS to other phones.

Europe clears Hitachi, Mitsubishi to form Renesas chip firmNews & Analysis 11/28/2002 Post a commentBRUSSELS, Belgium --- The European Commission has cleared Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. to proceed with the proposed merger of their logic chip semiconductor operations. If successfully established Renesas Technology Corp. could be the world's second largest chip company with $7 billion annual sales.

EU official tells China to drop own 3G standard, says reportNews & Analysis 11/28/2002 Post a commentA European Union official said that China should not go ahead with deployment of its own third-generation (3G) mobile communications standard, according to a report at the 3Gnewsroom Web site. The official told a group of telecommunications industry officials that an integrated world standard would reduce costs and that country-based standards should be avoided, the report said.

DRAM makers beef up capital budgetsNews & Analysis 11/28/2002 Post a commentAlthough the majority of DRAM suppliers continue to report large losses, capital expenditure budgets in 2003 will show a 25% increase over this year's levels. That compares with a relatively anemic 4% increase for the rest of the chip industry, according to market research firm iSuppli Corp., El Segundo, Calif.

Hynix ready to seek partners abroad, says reportNews & Analysis 11/28/2002 Post a commentSEOUL -- Massively endebted Hynix Semiconductor Inc. wants to form a strategic partnership with three to four semiconductor firms in the United States and Europe, according to a report in the Korean Herald today (November 28, 2002). Hynix is also thinking of selling the flash memory part of its business to a European chipmaker, the report said.

Fujitsu, Toshiba mulling 300-mm fab, says reportNews & Analysis 11/28/2002 Post a commentTOKYO -- Fujitsu Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. are likely to share the cost of building a 300-mm wafer fab, but there is no prospect of a merger of Fujitsu's flash memory operation with that of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., a Fujitsu executive is reported as saying today (November 28, 2002).

IEDM late paper: IBM shows how to stack for 3D circuitryNews & Analysis 11/28/2002 Post a commentLONDON -- Three-dimensional circuit blocks, made without degrading electrical performace of leading-edge transistors, is the topic of a late paper from IBM at this year's International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM) to be held December 8 to 11 in San Francisco. The team has mated together two circuits from atop separate silicon-on-insulator wafers using a "glass-handle" transfer method.

Hello Kitty may be key to 3G successNews & Analysis 11/27/2002 Post a commentIt's scary to think that sophisticated 3G mobile systems may depend for their survival on Hello Kitty, that cutesy Japanese pink cat with whiskers but no mouth. But that's what it might come down to.

Garbage in / garbage out: Input filters enhance A/D converter measurementsNews & Analysis 11/27/2002 Post a commentAnalog-to-Digital Converters (A/D converters) are capable of quite impressive noise and distortion performance. However, even the best signal generators and synthesizers produce signals that are not spectrally pure enough to evaluate noise and distortion performance of A/D converters. A National apps guy reminds us that even the best test set ups can benefit from an input filter.

Geiger counter 'badge' eyed to detect radiationNews & Analysis 11/27/2002 Post a commentGallium arsenide diodes are being used to build real-time nuclear-radiation detectors that their inventors promise will be as small and cheap as today's non-real-time "dosimeter" badges. The button-size single-chip detectors will give on-the-spot readings of radiation levels, as Geiger counters do, but without the Geiger counters' expense and heft.

IBM offers assertion-based verification toolNews & Analysis 11/27/2002 Post a commentTaking a further step into the commercial EDA world, IBM's Haifa Research Laboratory has started to offer the company's FoCs assertion-based verification tool for a free 90-day trial. FoCs (pronounced "fox") was previously available only to IBM's business partners and to customers of RuleBase, the company's high-end formal verification tool.

IC layout market soars, as front-end tools dipNews & Analysis 11/27/2002 Post a commentIC implementation toolsets and IC layout tools experienced phenomenal growth in 2001, while front-end tools such as logic synthesis faltered, according to a new report by Gartner Dataquest. And market share leadership changed in several key areas of the electronic design automation market last year, due in part to a wave of industry consolidation.

Equipment vendors tread lightly in downturnNews & Analysis 11/27/2002 Post a commentSemiconductor equipment vendors are retooling their strategies in the face of the industry's declining book-to-bill ratio, which slid to 0.73 in October. The ratio of three-month moving-average bookings to three-month moving-average billings for the North American semiconductor equipment industry was released last week by the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade organization.

Credence moves to acquire optical test firmNews & Analysis 11/27/2002 Post a commentFREMONT, Calif. --- Automatic test equipment company Credence Systems Corp. announced today (November 27, 2002) that it is to buy Optonics Inc., a privately held supplier of optical emission based diagnostic and failure analysis tools, based in Mountain View, California. The acquisition is anticipated to be an all-stock transaction for approximately two million Credence shares, which would make it worth about $23 million.